


Across The Universe

by Kepcat



Category: Voltron: Defender of the Universe (1984), Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-15
Updated: 2017-08-03
Packaged: 2018-12-02 17:06:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11513709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kepcat/pseuds/Kepcat
Summary: An AU perspective about what happened to Shiro after he disappeared at the end of season 2. Slav always spoke about multiple universes...***Currently in Hiatus until further notice.***





	1. Prologue

The last thing his mind could recall was the clashing sword...cheers from his team which quickly faded into cries of concern. Voices called his name, clearly at first, then faded along with his vision, followed only by darkness and silence.

It felt like an eternity since his eyes had last opened, but something pulled Shiro’s mind out of the dark pit it had been thrown into and back out into the open light. He stayed still a moment, allowing his eyes to adjust before he decided to move, sore limbs greeting him.

“Quiznak…” Shiro groaned, pushing himself up off the ground. He wasn’t sure what had happened or where he was, though from the stone surrounding him, the sounds of dripping water, he knew it wasn’t the Black Lion. “Guys?” he tapped his helmet, trying to see if his com was still in tact. His only response was static. “...great….”

After a quick self assessment, Shiro pushed himself to his feet. Nothing broken, so that was a plus he decided. A few bruises, nothing that he couldn’t walk off...now he just had to figure out where he was and, more importantly, where his team and Black were. Shiro switched on the light on the side of his helmet, taking a moment to brighten the dim area he had awoken in: it was definitely a cave of some sort, rock from bottom to top. An opening far above him was letting slivers of light in but not enough to fully see without the flashlight. Besides that there was nothing else-no tunnels, no exit point….

“Seems like that’s my way out,” Shiro cracked his neck a little, stretching out the kinks before moving to the wall.

Hands searched the wall for any point he could grab onto. Not finding one, he decided to make one of his own. Shiro slammed his fist of his Galra arm into the wall, and began to climb. It wasn’t as far up as he thought, blue sky beginning to become visible the higher he went.

Ok...blue sky was good. That meant he was on a planet of some sorts and not just an asteroid…at the same time it was bad. A planet? Last he had checked they had specifically set the wormhole generator to send them and Zarkon to an area where there were no planets! No. No he could worry about that later. First thing first, he had to get out of the cave hole.

After what seemed like ages of climbing, Shiro took in a breath of fresh air as he crawled out of the vine covered opening that had covered the cave, standing up in the sunlight. Shiro clicked off the flashlight, eyes adjusting in the light as he took in his surroundings.

It was lush, wherever he was. The scanner on his helmet let him know that the air was breathable, always a good thing, so he could put the full mask away and leave the partial up. The forest he was in was thick, a breeze rustling through the trees. He could hear the sound of a river not too far off.

“Guys?” Shiro tapped his helmet com again, hoping that there wouldn’t be as much static now that he was out of the cave. To his surprise, something did begin to come through, but he couldn’t quite make out what was being said. “Hello?” he shook his head, hearing only the static with mumbled words. “Damn.”

With a heavy sigh, Shiro decided to try and find a clearing. Maybe it was the planet itself, but something was keeping his com from working properly. His best bet would to be and try to find a clearing or maybe someone on the planet, if there was anyone, that would be able to help him figure out how he had gotten into the cave and what had happened to his friends; if they were still all right….if they had beaten Zarkon….

Shiro’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of voices ahead. Still unsure about his current situation, the paladin decided that it would be best to make himself as scarce as possible, lest the voices belonged to someone of a less friendly nature. A small grove of trees acted as the perfect cover as Shiro made his way towards the voices being sure to keep low and quiet so as not to be discovered too soon.

The closer he came to the voices oddly, the more muffled they seemed to be, the comm in his helmet crackling more as it strained to pick up any signals. Broken voices echoed in his ears from the comm, though only garbled words managed to flow through: _“Can you-?” “Answer-!”_ were some of the jumbled mess that managed to reach his ears.

Wanting to be sure he was hearing the correct things, Shiro turned the volume of his own comm down momentarily so as not to be caught of guard and continued to make his way forward towards the dense trees, fingers of his Galra arm glowing ever slightly in case an attacker loomed nearby. The closer he came, the loud the voices became, though still muffled. Shiro held his breath as he came to a large rock, pressed himself against it, daring to take a glance around the edge of it to see who it was that was speaking.

_The hell?_

No one was there.

This had to be some sort of trick. He could hear the muted voices even clearer now; they seemed to be calling out to someone. But where were they…?

Then he spotted it.

Lying right in front of the rock he was hiding behind, down by his boot was a helmet. A blue helmet. A very _familiar_ blue helmet.

Shiro paled a little as he moved out from the rock, snatching the helmet up from the ground. A quick look over found the helmet’s visor to be cracked, the voices coming from the comm inside.  
He turned it over in his hands, trying to see if there was any other damage besides the cracked visor, searching for any clue as to why it was here. Upon the inspection, relief seemed to wash over him.

While similar looking, the helmet wasn’t Lance’s; it was too blue. The dark blue covered a majority of the helmet, a gold design in the front middle, where their paladin helmet also had a slight curve to it in the front, this helmet was mostly round. Shiro let out his breath. But if this wasn’t the blue paladin’s helmet, whose was it?

The voices from inside the helmet`s comm continued to cry out, each outburst becoming more concerned sounding when no reply came to them. Snapping out of his thoughts Shiro removed his own helmet, placed it onto the rock he had been hiding behind, and brought the blue helmet close to his ear to listen in.

“Where is he?!” came one of the voices.

“He said he heard something...then his com cut out! He’s not responding!” a second voice, this one sounded a little younger.

“Goddamn it, Moody!!” a third voice, angry but concerned, “ANSWER! MOODY!”

‘Moody?’ Shiro wondered. Who were they talking about? What were they talking about? Shiro began to open his mouth to respond to the strange voices, maybe ask what was going on; who they were looking for, when another voice caught his ear, and it wasn’t coming from the helmet.

“The noise came from over here! Fan out and find what’s making it!”

Shit.

Shiro dropped the helmet right then and there, knowing that he couldn’t hide properly with the comm inside making such noise. He turned to grab his own helmet from the rock, eyes falling onto something he hadn’t seen before. The rock wasn’t just a rock. It was a smooth stone, a monument. No….a grave.

Shiro paled as he read the inscription upon it: **Here lies fallen hero: Takashi Shirogane.**


	2. Chapter One

**_Here lies fallen hero: Takashi Shirogane._ **

 

It couldn’t be real. Yet here he was, staring at the words inscribed upon what appeared to be on his own grave on some unknown planet that he certainly had never been to in his known life. Shiro clutched his helmet tighter in his hands, shaking just a little at seeing this sign of his death. It just couldn’t be real….

 

“This way! Fan out and find out where that noise is coming from!” the gruff voice pulled Shiro back into reality, closer now than it had been before. 

 

_ Get your head together, Takashi!  _ Shiro took a breath, putting on his helmet quickly before looking for a better place to hide. 

 

He could hear the heavy footsteps growing closer; there had to a group of them coming. Shiro made his way to the nearest tree and jumped, happy to find that his jets were working well enough to give him enough of a quick boost to get him up high into the tree. Arms wrapped around the trunk of the tree as he settled onto a branch, praying that it was sturdy enough to hold his weight. Holding his breath, Shiro steadied himself on the branch, leaning forward as he heard the thudding steps come to a half beneath him. 

 

A herd of purple beings had spread out below, large guns in their hands, each wearing a set of body armor. For a minute Shiro nearly mistook them for Galra soldiers but it couldn’t be. Where the Galra had more, for lack of a better description, feline like features, these purple-skinned men mostly reminded Shiro of a reptile: their teeth had a point to them, and some even showed signs of having scales beneath their body armor. Their eyes were dark, and he swore that they were hissing at one another as they began to search the grounds below for what had made the noise. 

 

“Captain!” one finally called out from beside the tomb where Shiro had just been, “I found what was making that racket!” he was holding aloft the blue helmet the black paladin had found earlier, still crackling and calling out for whoever Moody was. 

 

One of the larger creatures in the group moved over, taking the helmet from his underling and looking it over with a grimace. “So this is where the pilot’s helmet landed.” he snorted, holstering his gun so that he could use his free hand to rummage inside, looking for something. The look on the creature’s face was enough to tell Shiro he hadn’t found what he wanted as the captain growled, throwing the helmet aside, “It wasn’t in there. Damn it!”

 

“There’s nothing else here, sir,” one of the soldiers came over cautiously after seeing the helmet thrown. “The noise was just the pilot’s helmet, nothing else.”

 

“The helmet is of no use to us. And you didn’t find that key anywhere here?” he looked to the soldier who shook their head in response, “And it wasn’t on the pilot when you searched him?”

 

“No sir,” came the instant reply from the soldier. 

 

A disgruntled sound came from the Captain, “Keep searching this area. He hid that key somewhere and we need to find it before reporting back to Prince Lotor!” he turned to the other soldiers that had gathered round, “You two: stay here and continue to search. Dig up this grave if you have to!” he glanced at the others, “The rest of you, back to camp with me. Maybe our friend’s tongue has loosened up by now…”

 

The Captain turned on his heels, heading off in the direction which they had just came followed by all but the two soldiers that had been left behind to continue the search. Shiro knelt down a little on the branch as he watched them, mind racing through the information he had just come across. 

 

_ Ok...so whoever these guys are, they have someone as a prisoner and are looking for some kind of key?  _ he thought, being very careful to not even breathe loudly as he crouched in the treetop.  _ These guys definitely don’t seem to be the friendly type… _

 

He continued to watch the soldiers patrol the area beneath him a little longer, waiting, wanting to see if they would provide him with anymore information before he decided to make a move. Much to his disappointment though, the soldiers were stoic in their search, the only sounds they made inaudible grunts and hisses as they overturned rocks or pushed through bushes. Shiro glanced towards the helmet that had been tossed aside by the Captain, remembering the concern in the voices he had heard, the fear that whomever owned the helmet was in danger. 

 

Fingers reached up to his own helmet, turning the volume of his com up slightly to listen to the broken static once more. He could hear those same voices in the static; that explained why he couldn’t reach his own friends. The signals must have crossed…

 

“Please…” a voice cracked through the broken signal, “Please answer….!”

 

Shiro closed his eyes a moment, turned his com volume back down and took a deep breath. He would be lying if he said that the site of the grave below, the grave with  _ his name _ inscribed on it, hadn’t given his body a thorough shock. All he had wanted to do after seeing it was get as far from it as possible….but he was a Paladin of Voltron. He could figure out the grave later; right now he had a duty to uphold. 

 

Shiro put his full face plate down, took one final deep breath to calm his nerves, and leapt down from the tree landing right between the two prowling soldiers, who leapt away from him as though he was a man on fire. 

 

“Gentleman, a minute of your time perhaps?” Shiro asked, arm aglow and ready just in case they didn’t take his arrival well. 

 

“It-it’s impossible!” he heard one mutter out, the soldier's hands shaking around their gun. Shiro could see that his dark purple skin had paled upon his arrival, “Look at his hand!”

 

“If we could all calm down, maybe you two could answer some questions-” Shrio began, shocked when he saw the two abruptly turn tail and run in the other direction. 

 

“The Captain won’t like this!” he heard the other shout.

 

“Then the Captain can come back and deal with that on his own! I told you that place was cursed!” the pale one retorted back, before they vanished through the woods. 

 

Dumbfounded, the glow of Shiro’s hand vanished once he was sure that the soldiers were completely gone, and this wasn’t just some tactic to throw him off his guard. 

 

_ Well...that didn’t go at all how I thought it would…  _ Shiro put his helmet’s face mask back to the half setting as he sauntered over to the discarded blue helmet, picking it up once again.  _ They acted as if they had seen a ghost.  _ He glanced back at the grave bearing his name out of the corner of his eye and felt the prick of a cold sweat break out under his armor.  _ Yeah maybe I should look around more.  _

 

With quick and quiet steps, Shiro headed off in the direction that he had seen the other soldiers and their Captain go. The blue helmet had gone silent, as had Shiro’s own crackling com. He wasn’t sure if it was because of a loss of signal, or if the voices on the other end had ceased in their attempts to make contact. Shiro sighed and continued on his way, taking in his surroundings as he tracked the purple soldiers that had gone before him. 

 

A light wind blew, rustling through the green treetops, sun filtering down through the leaves. Shiro could hear the songs of birds overhead, every now and then actually seeing one fly by. If it weren’t for the soldiers he had encountered earlier, the place reminded him a lot of Earth. The sound of the river that he had heard earlier right after leaving the below ground cave had faded, indicating that he was moving away from the water source. Shiro’s mind began to wander away from the thoughts of the strange grave he had happened upon, instead turning back to the curious question of where he was exactly and how he had arrived there.

 

Broken twigs on bushes and flattened grass along his way told Shiro that he was headed in the right direction of the soldiers. Grip tightening on the blue helmet in his hand, Shiro took more caution in his steps as he began to near a man made clearing, the tops of dark colored ships peaking out from behind the tops of trees. He could hear the same loud, hissing voices that he had heard before, only more of them now. Shiro found a larger tree near the forced clearing, pressing his backside against it for cover, still quite a good distance away from the campsite, but close enough where he would still be able to catch a glance of these new surroundings if he leaned out just enough.

 

There were two large ships in the camp; dark colored, dented and scorched from battles, gruesome pieces of mechanical nightmares. They had markings of a dark monster on the side with a number. Rankings perhaps? The doors to the ships were laid open, armed soldiers moving in and out as they completed their tasks, some patrolling. There were definitely more here than there had been back in the woods. Shiro counted at least thirty. 

 

“Hm…” Shiro shifted behind the tree, took a chance, and quickly rolled his way over to another thick covering closer to the campsite. He waited, holding his breath, listening for any indication that his movement had been seen or heard. Once an acceptable amount of time had passed and no alarms had sounded, Shiro dared to take another look at the campsite from his new angle. 

 

Between the two ships he spotted the Captain: the fanged, yellow eyed soldier was larger than most of his counterparts in the camp, armor spiked, a large blade at his side. He was standing with his back towards Shiro in front of what seemed to be a large metal pole shoved into the ground, a second pole put into place to make a T shape, a table beside it with a smaller blaster placed upon it. The captain’s large armored girth was blocking most of the pole as he stood before it, but Shiro’s eyes widened when he noticed the clenched fist sticking out above the captain’s head, secured by rough ropes to the cross bar portion of metal.

 

“Where is it?!” Shiro heard the Captain snap out, his clawed hand reaching forward as his body leaned in to the secured captive before him, “Talk you little maggot! I don’t like having to ask twice…!”

 

A choked laugh came from the other, “Fuck off…”

 

The Captain’s other hand clenched into a fist ramming it into the gut of the person in front of him, all the while still holding their throat. Shiro heard the choked grunt as the fist made contact, the hands secured to the pole jerking with the force of the blow.  

 

“I’ve had enough of your mouth…” the Captain snarled out, leaning in close to the other, “At this point you’re becoming of more use to us dead than alive. If it wasn’t for the Prince and his damned obsession I would have had your hide skinned and laid out for the rest of your pilot friends to find by now…” a gasp came from the prisoner as the Captain increased his grip on their throat, “Tell me where that damned key is NOW or I swear I will make good on that threat despite what the Prince wants-!” 

 

Shiro was close enough to hear the garbled gasp come from the prisoner as they tried to get air into their lungs, the pain of their throat being squeezed...enough was enough. Shiro’s face mask went fully down, the helmet being thrown full force at the back of the Captain’s head as the paladin emerged from his hiding spot, Galra arm aglow and taking out any soldier that came in his way. The Captain staggered back as the helmet hit the ground, the prisoner sucking in much needed air. 

 

“The fucking hell?!” the Captain cursed out, turning his glare to the intruder making his way into their camp. 

 

The Captain didn’t even need to give the order to attack. The moment that Shiro had let himself be known soldiers had turned their full attention to him. Armed and quick, Shiro made work of avoiding as many of the laser blasts as humanly possible, trying to make his way over to the bound prisoner. The Captain stayed his ground in front of the prisoner, sensing that was where Shiro would be going, but cried out again as booted feet made contact with his back, sending him sprawling forward onto the ground.

 

“Next time remember to tie my feet down too, jackass!” Shiro heard the coy remark as another soldier went down in front of him, taking the hint from the captive to work with the distraction. 

 

Shiro turned on his heels and made a mad dash for the metal pole, stepping on the back of the Captain as he attempted to get up to push him back down. One swipe of his hand caused the ropes binding the prisoner to falter, the other moving quickly to grab the helmet from the ground once he was freed, putting it on before Shiro could get a clear look at him. 

 

“Are you-?” Before Shiro could ask if the person was all right they had grabbed the blaster from the table nearby firing it in his direction. Shocked, Shiro stood there as the blast whizzed past his ear, striking a soldier down that had come up behind him. 

 

“Are you just going to stand there?” the pilot asked, taking another shot in a different direction, “Come on, hero! Move!” 

 

“Right!” Shiro snapped back into the present, making a point to stomp down on the Captain as he followed the pilot through the camp past the other soldiers that were coming after them.

 

They ran towards the cover of the woods, lasers flying past them in attempts to thwart their escape. Shiro took down a couple trees along the way as they ran, slicing through ones that were already cracking with his Galra hand, hoping their additional mass on the ground would give them more time to distance themselves from the pursuing soldiers. After the trees had fallen Shiro ran again, catching up with the pilot he had just freed. Downed trees or not, he could hear the soldier’s behind them still, becoming closer, the shots being fired starting to skim the ground behind them. 

 

Shiro knew just running wasn’t going to do them any good. Eventually they would be caught if they kept on this way. They needed to find cover…! 

 

“This way!” Shiro felt himself be tugged as the pilot pulled him in the opposite direction, the black paladin nearly tripping over himself at the sudden movement. 

 

“Where are we going?” Shiro finally managed to ask between ragged breaths.

 

“River!” came the reply, “There’s a cave there! We can use it as cover to get these lizards off our tails!”

 

Great. So they were going back the way that Shiro had just come. Another laser blast, closer than the last, destroyed a small boulder near Shiro’s feet. Backtracking was just fine by him! 

 

They continued to run, pushing their way through the woods towards the sound of rushing water. In the back of his mind, Shiro wondered why he was so quick to trust this pilot, why he was following him, why he had even saved him so brashly without even thinking about the consequences. It wasn’t something that he normally did, being so brazen in his actions. Shiro finally decided to take a look at the pilot running in front of him.

 

The dark blue, white and gold helmet was hiding any facial features from him. Shiro couldn’t even be sure if the pilot was human or not (not that it mattered). The uniform was the same dark blue and white as the helmet, white gloves covering the hands. There was a holster on his hips where Shiro noted the blaster had been placed, and white and blue boots. A fast glance had shown him there was some type of metal badge on his ches baring the colors red, blue, green and yellow, black in the center with a cross on it. It resembled his own paladin armor, but didn’t seem quite as protective.

 

“Hey! Quick question!” the pilot glanced over his shoulder at Shiro as they ran. It was getting harder to hear him, the sound of rushing water was getting louder and louder the more they ran, “Can you swim?”

 

“Yes?” well that was an odd question to ask.

 

“Great!” the pilot gave a thumbs up, a smirk crossing his lips behind the dark blue visor, “Shit watch it!” he was quick in his movements as he grabbed Shiro by his hand, pulling him forward an out of the way of a laser blast, “Move move move!” he pushed Shiro ahead of him and out of the way as more blasts were fired. 

 

Shiro tripped a little from being shoved forward, regaining his footing quickly to continue moving forward. He heard the pilot's own blaster returning fire behind him followed by the other’s footsteps catching up with his own. 

 

“Holy quiznak!” Shiro skidded to a halt when he came to the edge of a rather high cliff. The sounds of a raging waterfall sounded beneath him, the water below foaming white as it crashed along the sides of the river bed. He looked back when he heard the pilot yell out words that were muffled by the loud noise, “”What?!”

 

“JUMP!!” 

 

Shiro felt his hand be grabbed again, lurching forward as the pilot took a running leap off the cliffside, Shiro in tow. A quick glance above him displayed the shots that had been fired right where they were standing. After what felt like forever, his heart racing, they hit the water, sinking down deep beneath the crashing waves. It took a few seconds for Shiro to regain himself, glad his visor was all the way down, allowing him to breathe under the water. He instinctively began to swim upwards but a tug on his hand pulled him back down; the pilot had never let go of his hand.

 

“...??” Shiro looked to the pilot, whom he could tell was holding his breath, who was motioning for him to follow him towards the falls. Shiro nodded, the pilot released his hand, and together they swam under the foaming waters, the thunderous crash of the falling water finally fading away once they had swum deep enough into the caverns hidden behind it. 

 

Shiro surfaced first, visor going from full to half to allow him fresh oxygen. The pilot surfaced a few seconds later, gasping for air, coughing out any water that had managed to slip into his lungs. 

 

Between the coughs, Shiro heard him laugh and mumble to himself, “Chief will never let me live this down…” before slowly making his way towards the ground at the water’s edge. 

 

“So…” Shiro swam behind him, deciding now was a good of time as any to get some information, “You must be Moody?” 

 

The pilot paused, body already partially out of the water. Shiro decided to stay back just in case the other went for his blaster in defense. “Yes,” he nodded, “How did you know?”

 

“My com picked up a signal, the voices kept calling out that name…” Shiro swam towards the small shore again once he was sure it was a safe decision, “When I found your helmet on the ground I just assumed that it belonged to who they were calling for.”

 

“Yeah, that’s what my friends call me,” Moody stifled a groan as he pulled himself the rest of the way out of the water, taking a moment to sit down and catch his breath, “And who are you?” he asked, watching Shiro take a seat beside him, “Or should I just call you my daring hero?” a wink from under the visor. 

 

Shiro flushed a little, “I’m Sh-” he paused, remembering the grave with his name on it, “Shane.” he lied, deciding it best to not give his real name until he was completely certain of what was going on.

 

“Shane,” Moody nodded, repeating the name so that he would remember it. He leaned back against the cavern wall, slumping a little. Shiro noticed he was favoring his left side a little. 

 

“Are you alright?” Shiro sat himself down near him.

 

A nod of the head, “Yeah...at least I think so. Got a bit roughed up before you came in to save my ass back there,” Moody chuckled a little, “Thanks for that by the way.”

 

“Mm,” Shiro sighed and leaned back against the wall as well, but kept an eye on the pilot next to him. 

 

They were both silent for awhile after that, catching their breath, letting their bodies rest for a brief moment, waiting to see if they were going to be found out by the soldiers that had been chasing them. After a while or so, Moody broke the silence. 

 

“So where are you from?” he asked, “I’ve never seen someone with that type of uniform around here before.”

 

“Oh. I...well…” Shiro took a breath, “I’m not really from here. To be honest, I don’t even know where ‘here’ is. The last thing I remember was being on my own ship, there was a bright flash of light, and the next I was here.”

 

“That’s a little odd,” Moody eyed him a moment, “But stranger things have happened here…” he began to get up, leaning heavily against the wall of the cavern for support. He slipped a little, holding his side. 

 

Shiro was on his feet quickly, helping Moody to steady himself. That’s when he noticed the stain of red on the white suit, singe marks showing that a blast had hit him, “You’re hurt.”

 

“I’m ok,” a lie through gritted teeth, “It just grazed me.”

 

“You’re bleeding,” Shiro pointed out the obvious.

 

“I’ve been through worse, trust me…” Moody gave that grin again. “...but yeah...bleeding out would be bad…” he took a breath, leaning against Shiro heavily, “I have a med kit in my ship. If we can get to it then I should be able to bandage it enough to stop the bleeding until I can get us back to base.” 

 

“Where’s your ship?” Shiro asked, eyeing the red stain on Moody’s side. It was getting larger the more the pilot was on his feet.

 

Moody pointed towards the back of the cavern, “Through there. There’s an opening in the back of the cavern that leads to a clearing. I landed her there so she wouldn’t be spotted by the Galra.”

 

Shiro felt himself freeze a moment, “Galra?” a chill ran down his spine, “Those were Galra soldiers?!”

 

“Creepy bastards, aren’t they?” Moody nodded, taking a breath as he began to lead them forward, hoping Shiro would follow his lead. 

 

“I-I’ve never seen Galra soldiers that looked like that before,” Shiro admitted. He had been a Galra prisoner for a year and not once had he ever seen any Galra that looked like lizard men. Were these Galran’s from a different planet? Or were they just a race of beings who had joined Zarkon’s side and adopted the name?

 

“Sorry you had to see them at all, they’re not so easy on the eyes,” Moody stumbled a little, Shiro’s arm reaching out to steady him, “T-Thanks…” he took a breath, looking ahead, “Not too far now...I can see the opening…”

 

Shiro frowned, feeling that prick of cold sweat work its way out again. He wanted to ask more questions, especially about the Galra, but he knew now was not the time. He could tell by the way Moody was walking, his body hunching over more and more with each step, the sound of his breathing getting harder, that his priority right now was getting to this ship and attending to the other’s wound as quickly as possible. Being careful of his wound, Shiro wrapped his arm around Moody’s upper torso, lifting him a little to help ease the pressure on his body and speed up their steps. He could see a light from the end of the caverns growing nearer and nearer as they moved towards it. 

 

“Ah...there she is…” Moody pointed as they stepped out of the vine covered cave entrance and into the sunlight.

 

Shiro nearly shit his pants when he looked up, heart racing. Standing tall before them, long shadow cascading behind her was the Red Lion. Dented and scratched in places, she stood before them no barrier up. If Red was here then that meant-!

 

“Never seen a Lion of Voltron before?” Moody smiled up at Shiro, sweat dotting his brow under the dark visor. 

 

“Yes!” Shiro snapped out of his thoughts, “Wait, you said we were going to your ship?”

 

“She’s mine,” Moody nodded, “Come on...let’s...let’s get inside...get that medkit and get out of here….”

 

He must have gone crazy. Shiro helped to keep Moody on his feet as they made their way to the claws of the Red Lion. There was no barrier up. Shiro wondered if the systems were down….but the pilot in his arms didn’t seem concerned. Shiro’s mind raced. Where the hell was he? Maybe he had been transported to a different time…the past? But the grave he saw with his name...the future maybe?

 

Shiro’s head spun a little as the wave of thoughts ran over him, weighing all his options about what had happened.

 

“Hey-!” Moody’s voice once again cut into his thoughts, “Shane...you with me still?”

 

“”Wha-Yes, yes…” Shiro nodded hastily.  _ Keep your wits about you, Shiro. For all you know this could be a fever dream.  _ He took a deep breath, looking up at the under belly of the lion, “How do we get in?”

 

“Like this,” with a shaking hand, Moody touched the badge on his chest. 

 

Above them Shiro heard the hiss of a door opening, a small platform coming down to settle before them. Moody nodded to him and took the first steps towards the platform, ushering Shiro onto it with him. The Black Paladin kept his hold on the other as they were lifted up into the cockpit of the Lion. After the lift had closed and locked beneath their feet, Moody pulled himself away from Shiro, barely making it to the pilot’s chair in front of the controls.

 

As Moody fiddled with the controls, Shiro took it as his chance to take in the cockpit. It was vastly different than any of the lions he had seen. While still high tech, the controls seemed a little...outdated, more manual than alien tech compared to what he was used to dealing with. Shiro jumped some when he heard something clatter to the floor.

 

“D-damn it,” Moody cursed, hands shaking as he tried to reach down to pick up the med kit he had dropped, its contents scattered on the floor. 

 

“Here, let me get it,” Shiro knelt down and began to pick up the items. There wasn’t much in the medkit that would be too useful in closing the wound completely, but at least there were bandages and antibiotic spray. Shiro removed the cap of the spray, moving his hand to Moody’s bleeding side, pulling back the red stained suit away from the wound, “This might sting…”

 

Moody hissed as Shiro applied the spray, gripping the sides of the chair, “Shit,” he let out a half hearted laugh as Shiro went to wrapping his side, “...t-thanks…” he caught his breath a little, “I got her going...autopilot…” he was mumbling now, “...s-should be back….” 

 

Shiro blinked a little. He hadn’t even realized the lion had moved. Glancing at the main screen he saw the landscapes flying by as the lion ran along the ground at a blinding pace. 

 

“How long until we get to this base of yours?” Shiro turned his attention back to finishing bandaging Moody up. He didn’t get a reply, “Moody?” he looked up at the other from where he had been kneeling.

 

The pilot was silent, slumped over in his chair. Shiro’s heart dropped as he jumped to his feet, gently pushing the other back to a sitting position.

 

“Hey!” he placed both his hands on the blue helmet, gently tilting it to try and have the other look at him,”Are you still with me?” Still no response came, “Shit.”

 

Shiro removed his own helmet, placing it aside so he could get a better look at the injured pilot in the chair. Carefully he pulled the blue helmet off the other, shock striking through him as a familiar face was revealed beneath: auburn hair, a little longer and slightly feathered, the nose, they eyes, the lips...all the facial features were recognizable now. 

 

“Lance…”

 

The helmet clattered to the floor as Shiro moved forward, grasping the other’s shoulders with one hand, the other quickly checking a pulse. He was alive, barely. So much blood had already been lost. Shiro felt panic strike through him, confusion; what the hell was happening right now?

 

He didn’t feel the Lion stop moving. Didn’t hear the whirr of the platform behind him as it lowered only to rise up again. Shiro didn’t even hear the quick footsteps until they were right behind him. 

 

“Get the hell away from him!!”

 

Shiro turned just in time for a familiar fist to fly towards him before he was greeted with darkness yet again.

 

**Author's Note:**

> The characters are a little OOC if you have never seen the original Voltron in the 80's, but I guarantee that if you google it or look it up on youtube you won't be disappointed.


End file.
